This is going to sound weird, but stick with it: The reason free agents Michael Bourn, Kyle Lohse, Rafael Soriano and Adam LaRoche are still unsigned is because teams want to spend more money.

That doesn’t sound right, I understand, but it’s true.

Because teams want to spend in next June’s amateur draft, those four players, who are tied to draft-pick compensation because they declined one-year, $13.3 million qualifying offers from their previous teams, are still looking for jobs for next season. While those players bring immediate value, they also will cost a lot of money in salary, plus a draft pick, plus a chunk of a team’s draft bonus pool that is based on where and how many times the team picks in the first 10 rounds.

In this day and age of luxury taxes and skyrocketing contracts, those picks are as valuable as ever to an organization.

The new collective bargaining agreement, which took effect last year, did away with the Elias Sports Bureau’s Type A and B free-agent rankings and allowed teams to strategically make qualifying offers—an average of the top 125 annual salaries, which in 2012 was $13.3 million—to their free agents. This was supposed to prevent situations like Juan Cruz’s during the 2008-09 offseason when he was a middle reliever rated as Type A, tying him to a compensation pick and making him entirely undesirable. He didn’t sign until the end of February in 2009, after spring training had started.

Another tweak to the system dealt with how money is spent in the draft. Teams that go over budget on their bonus pools will be taxed and could lose picks. Major League Baseball has also suggested bonus values (also known as slotting) for each pick through the first 10 rounds. This is another form of a luxury tax, and an attempt to stop agents like Scott Boras—well, mainly just Boras—from holding teams hostage by holding out top players seeking huge bonuses.

The changes were well-intentioned, but there have been unintended consequences during the first offseason they've been in effect, and they've seriously diminished the value of some free agents.

“We all knew there would be some problems with this, but I don’t think anyone knew exactly how it would play out,” one National League general manager said Wednesday. “Now we do.”

Teams realize that losing a draft pick for signing a Bourn or a Lohse hurts them twice. First, they lose the pick if it’s not in the top 10. Second, they lose the money tied to that pick, thus lowering their overall bonus pool.

Of the other five players who declined qualifying offers, David Ortiz and Hiroki Kuroda re-signed with the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, respectively. No picks lost there. Nick Swisher signed with the Cleveland Indians, but because they'll pick fifth overall their selection is protected.

The only two players who've cost their new teams a pick this far are Josh Hamilton and B.J. Upton. The Los Angeles Angels lost the No. 22 pick for signing Hamilton, and the Atlanta Braves lost the 28th pick for signing Upton.

But Hamilton is one of the best hitters in the sport, while Upton’s upside is enticing and the Braves didn’t have to empty their piggy bank for him.

The remaining free agents who refused qualifying offers are too expensive (Bourn), too old (Lohse and LaRoche), too risky (same two) or not worth losing a draft pick (Soriano). There's now a stalemate in the market for the four best remaining players. Their prices will have to drop dramatically for teams to begin discussing them seriously, but that likely won't happen because Boras, who always seeks maximum dollars, reps three of the four—only LaRoche isn’t his client.

It will be interesting to see how the rest of this offseason plays out for those players. What will be more interesting is what happens 10 months from now when the next crop of free agents becomes available and teams and players know the potential pitfalls.

Players like San Francisco Giants right-hander Tim Lincecum is likely to ask for top dollar next offseason. No one will give it to him unless he proves in 2013 that he’s a real threat to win the Cy Young Award for a third time.

For Lincecum, free agency will be like going through the draft all over again. Concerns about his body type, potential injury based on his mechanics, his propensity for prolonged slumps and the fact that he’s lost his ace status and couldn’t be trusted in the playoff rotation last fall will scare away many teams.

And because the Giants know Lincecum wants a multiyear deal, they mostly likely will be willing to make a one-year qualifying offer. That means another team would lose a pick, lose money and likely have to pay a pretty penny just to get Lincecum in uniform for 2014. All of that could leave him unemployed in 365 days.

This really hurts the players and the players’ union. It's in both groups' best interests for salaries to rise and for big-name players to sign for big-time money.

The pain could be lessened, though, if teams begin taking advantage of loopholes. A free agent could re-sign with his old team, or sign with a team that has a protected pick, and then have that team work out a sign-and-trade deal with another club. That way, no one would lose a pick or draft money.

Another possible way around this: Knowing how his value could be diminished if he is tied to a compensation pick, a player might be willing to save his team a few million bucks in his final arbitration season, in exchange for the team agreeing not to make a qualifying offer in the offseason.

The original team would save a little money and potentially make the player a bargain in his final year with it. Such an agreement could also help keep a team from paying a payroll luxury tax. In turn, the player would be more attractive on the open market because he wouldn't cost the signing team a draft pick or pool money.

As this winter plays out with four high-profile free agents still unsigned, MLB and the union are seeing how the new CBA is affecting free agency. But because three of those four are Boras guys, MLB probably won’t sprint to fix the flaws unless enough teams attempt to exploit potential loopholes.

Boras may need to convince clients to take one of his famous “pillow" contracts, one-year deals that allow players to reestablish value and re-enter the market after the season. Obviously, those can easily backfire if a player gets hurt or doesn’t perform well, but players might be forced to take such deals given the current state of the market.

If baseball doesn’t do something about the new fractures in the system, players, agents and team executives could start circumventing free agency altogether. The fact that is even a consideration means the system is flawed enough to require another fix.